The Diary of a Madman Themes
Madness
If you're thinking, "Duh, what could be a more obvious theme than madness in 'The Diary of a Madman'," well, yeah, it's obvious. The devil is in the details, though. In fact, the depiction of madne...
Foolishness and Folly
Poprishchin isn't just a madman, but also a fool. It's not always so easy to tell the madness and the folly apart at the beginning—skipping work because you're thinking about Spanish affairs: foo...
Society and Class
"The Diary of a Madman" takes place in the capital of the Russian Empire of the 19th century, also known as the capital of rank-obsession, where your social standing relative to the nobility more o...
Prejudice
How do you make sure no one reading your story has feelings of pity for the protagonist? Make him mad and foolish. That might not be enough, though. How about making him a bigot with a long list of...